At a municipal budget meeting, an unnamed staff member presented several proposed adjustments to the municipality’s operating and capital budgets, including a pickup truck replacement, an increase in retirement-related expenses, and allocations for capital maintenance and safety surveys. The staff member described technical corrections to the operations-and-maintenance estimate and said bond funds remain available to cover some projects.

The matter matters because the changes affect the use of roughly $2.5 million in remaining bond proceeds and the operating fund balances that support day-to-day services. The staff member said the items presented are intended to be filed and that further position or compensation changes would be reflected in later updates.

The staff member said the transportation fund would reflect a $10,000 reduction in an energy line to cover fuel, at least for the first three months, and that the budget includes a proposal to add a pickup truck to the fleet for route checks and snow removal. The staff member described the township’s previous vehicle as aged and reported a new municipal pickup can cost about $45,000, as discussed by commenters during the meeting.

On municipal retirement costs, the staff member said the IMRF line increased by $3,300 and that an additional amount — described as up to $10,000 — relates to a salary increase included in the draft budget. The staff member presented these as input-driven changes to the estimate, not as a final appropriation.

In the capital projects fund, the staff member said an additional $50,000 in revenue had been recorded from a maintenance project grant for the auditorium and that $10,000 was recorded under life-safety survey work. The staff member also noted a $200,000 entry for safety surveys is under review and that more specific projects have not yet been identified.

The presenter said there are just over $2,500,000 of bond funds remaining and inserted placeholder projects so some of that funding could be assigned later. The staff member also corrected an operations-and-maintenance formula error, saying an estimated ending balance that had been listed at $2.8 million is actually just over $3 million; the staff member said the state form in the packet shows the correct figure.

No formal motion or vote was recorded during the excerpted discussion. The staff member closed by asking if there were any unanswered questions and said any future position or budget changes would be reflected in subsequent updates.

The discussion included brief comments from two meeting participants who identified local experience with vehicles and costs but did not propose formal actions. The staff member characterized the spreadsheet notes and adjustments as intended to be filed for now, with further refinement to come as staff reviews safety-survey findings and any future personnel changes.